Update Data Structures

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The Update Data Structures command updates the structure of your company data files to match the latest data dictionary of the version of Opera you are using. This process must be run whenever a new version of the application is installed. This is to ensure that your existing data files can accommodate changes or enhancements in the new releases.

You can only run this command if no other users are logged on.

You can also run Update Data Structures outside of normal office hours using Pegasus Scheduler.

STEP 1: Selecting your Companies

If you have more than one company in Opera, you must update each company.

Warning: It may take some time to update the data structures. This depends on the size of the company data.

STEP 2: Updating Tax, NI and Statutory Payments Rates

If you use the Payroll application an additional step is displayed so that you can update the Income Tax, National Insurance and Statutory Payments rates in the selected companies. The rates are those published by HMRC. Statutory rates for all companies in an Opera system can be updated at the same time. Opera keeps tables of Income Tax, National Insurance and Statutory Payments for two tax years.

This step is displayed every time you run Update Data Structures, even if the rates have already been updated. You only need to tick the box for each company if the rates were not previously updated. You can also update an individual company's Income Tax, National Insurance and Statutory Payments Rates using the Payroll - Utilities - Copy Statutory Rates command.

If the Date Table Becomes Effective date for either table has been set to be ahead of the system defaults provided with Opera, the table will not be overwritten. This provides a fail-safe mechanism if the Date Table Becomes Effective is changed manually.

STEP 3: Administrator Options

There are three options that you can select if you have logged in to Opera as the ADMIN user.

Warning: More time may be needed to complete the updates if you select one or more of these options.

Box	Description
Force rebuilding of all tables and indexes	This controls whether the selected company/s database and their indexes are rebuilt. This may be necessary if you are experiencing database errors or performance issues when you use Opera. This option is relevant for editions of Opera using Visual Foxpro as its data store.
Update Stock Transaction PDF References	Select this option to correct paths to invoice and credit note PDF images in the stock transactions table (?_CTRAN) using the equivalent paths in the sales transactions table (?_STRAN). This may be necessary if an image does exist but you see the message 'No PDF image exists for this transaction' in Stock Control when you try to view a PDF. This option is relevant for editions of Opera using the Stock Control application and Visual Foxpro as its data store. If you do not use Stock Control or use SQL Server for your Opera data store the option is hidden.
Run unattended	This controls whether you want to run the update unattended to prevent information being reported on the screen and interrupting the process. Any information that would otherwise be reported on screen will be stored in an audit file. You can specify the name and location of the file in the Audit File box or leave the default file name of UDSAudit.txt. You can then view the content of this file using a text editor like Windows Notepad.

Box

Description

Force rebuilding of all tables and indexes

This controls whether the selected company/s database and their indexes are rebuilt. This may be necessary if you are experiencing database errors or performance issues when you use Opera.

This option is relevant for editions of Opera using Visual Foxpro as its data store.

Update Stock Transaction PDF References

Select this option to correct paths to invoice and credit note PDF images in the stock transactions table (?_CTRAN) using the equivalent paths in the sales transactions table (?_STRAN). This may be necessary if an image does exist but you see the message 'No PDF image exists for this transaction' in Stock Control when you try to view a PDF.

This option is relevant for editions of Opera using the Stock Control application and Visual Foxpro as its data store. If you do not use Stock Control or use SQL Server for your Opera data store the option is hidden.

Run unattended

This controls whether you want to run the update unattended to prevent information being reported on the screen and interrupting the process. Any information that would otherwise be reported on screen will be stored in an audit file.

You can specify the name and location of the file in the Audit File box or leave the default file name of UDSAudit.txt. You can then view the content of this file using a text editor like Windows Notepad.

Information

Additional Systems

If you use the Additional Systems feature, you must update your companies in each system. You can only run this if no other users are logged on to the system that you are going to update.

This process can be run on one or more additional systems at the same time. For example, if you have two additional systems - 'ADS1" and 'ADS2' you can run the process on both these systems at the same time. However, you cannot run the process on the main system and on an additional system at the same time.

If bespoke changes have not been added to Opera, you can run this process in one additional system whilst users are using another additional system. For example, users can use additional system 'ADS1" whilst this process is running on additional system 'ADS2'. However, if bespoke changes are used, all systems are locked until this process completes.

'Add' Files

If 'ADD' files are found in the main System folder in the Opera Server installation, this process adds new records to the respective tables in the Opera System folder. For example, new report layouts are added to the SEQRPLAY file if the ADDRPLAY file includes one or more records. If Additional Systems are used, the new records are also added to the respective file in the System folder for each additional system, not just the main System folder. Any ADD files in an additional system's System folder are ignored.

For information about Additional Systems, see the Additional Systems Help topic.

Stocktake

If the Stocktake box on the Company Profiles form is ticked for a company, Update Data Structures creates a default Stocktake Profile for that company. For more information, see the Introducing Stocktake Help topic.